Elisabeth of Austria: The Princess Bride (The Royal Diaries)

by Barry Denenberg

Hardcover, 2003

Status

Check shelf

Call number

J 92 El

Publication

Scholastic Inc. (2003), Edition: 1, 160 pages

Description

The diary of Princess Elisabeth, written in 1853-1854, describing her engagement and marriage to her cousin Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria. Includes historical notes concerning her life as Empress.

Local notes

1609-276

User reviews

LibraryThing member AngelaB86

Written as the diary of Princess Sissi, about her trip escorting her sister to a future engagement, and how Sissi is the one who becomes engaged instead. A great series for young girls!

One feature of the Royal Diaries series is once the story is finished, the author includes a section which is only

facts: pictures/portraits of the main characters, family trees, a "What life was like in (insert name) lived" to help the reader distinguish between what we know about the characters, what we assume from artifacts found, and what the author made up to help the story along.

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LibraryThing member padame

Saturday, September 24, 1853
Finding herself the most important person in the whole household and the constant center of attention is most unnerving and disturbing. She wish it were not so, but there doesn’t seem to be anything she can do to stop it.
She can’t go out anywhere unless everyone

knows where she is because there are so may great personages an foreign delegations arriving night and day to meet her…
Possi used to be so serene and calming, but now that she has so much to do, It is far from that. She hardly has any time to spend with her animals, walk in the woods, or even ride with Poppy.
She wishes sge could go back to way things were…

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LibraryThing member kdangleis

The Royal Diaries: Elisabeth the Princess Bride is a fictional diary of the nine months leading to the 16 year-old’s marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph in 1854. The entries are brief, but filled with details of the time period and customs of the royals in those days. This princess clearly has no

time for the pomp and circumstance of the royals and would rather talk with the hired help. She is fond of her sister and father, and her mother is tolerant of her. Her aunt Sophie, the Emperor’s mother, is her mother’s sister. The brief courtship, days long, was supposed to be that of the Emperor and Elisabeth’s sister Helene. The entries are entertaining and reveal the independent character the real Elisabeth was. The lure of a diary, revealing someone’s inner most thoughts, propels the reader quickly through the text and all too soon it comes to an end. The book contains an epilogue of the miserable existence that followed the wedding of Elisabeth and the Emperor. This princess did not live happily ever after; even her death-a stabbing at 60 years of age- was brutal. The historical notes that follow describe the world happenings – five of Europe’s ruling powers were overthrown when Elisabeth was about 9 years old; it was the age of the Industrial Revolution; the California Gold Rush took place; the telephone was invented; etc. These were the events happening as Elisabeth lived. The historical notes also indicate the downfall of the Habsburg dynasty, of which Elisabeth married into. The monarchs began to disappear as they were replaced with elected officials. The diary notes, comparing them to the history provided seem accurate but there isn’t much mention of the political aspects or issues of the times…perhaps because these are the entries of a 16 year old. The conversations between Elisabeth and the other characters seem like Elisabeth is more of a women’s liberator than a princess. Unfortunately, she was born in the wrong era. There are many pictures of the royal family, notes about the family members and places, as well as a glossary of characters.

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LibraryThing member Beammey

This was okay. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. Not the best one I've read yet, but not the worst. Just a typical book, but I did learn things and I did enjoy it and read it all in about two hours, so that was nice. I would still recommend this to kids because even though it wasn't up my alley, it

might be up someone else's and Elisabeth really was pretty interesting.

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LibraryThing member Jazz1987

Sometimes when I read The Royal Diaries series I get most men wont pick it up because it says words like "princess", "royal", "diary" but look past that and realize these women had extraordinary lives and some, like the title character, die in an assassination. These are not the type of books for

girls who think you life is easy if you're a princess (or similar titles). There are at least three other books in the series where the female monarch is assassinated or beheaded; something Disney would never allow in a princess life of false joy. Good book for historical value lousy book for your princess fantasy.

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